9 SAD Air Base attack

The 9 SAD Air Base attack occurred on 22 June 1941 at the start of Operation Barbarossa, when the German Luftwaffe launched surprise attacks against Soviet airbases in the western USSR. 379 German planes based in several airbases to the east of Warsaw launched a surprise raid on the 9 SAD Air Base, destroying 272 Soviet fighters and 55 bombers; 318 Soviet planes were destroyed while they were still on the ground. The Germans achieved total surprise, and they lost only two planes in the attack.